The Cost of Victory
by Roxie Zephyr Jocelyn
Summary: [Spoilers for the entire series up to Episode 12 of Kamen Rider Gaim. Set in the distant future of the series.] On the eve of war, Kumon Kaito and Jounouchi Hideyasu contemplate the choices they made and the price they had to pay in their climb to the top.


A/N: Inspired by the war scene in Episode 01 of Kamen Rider Gaim. The fascinating characters of Kamen Rider Gaim do not belong to me, but to their respective creators. Enjoy~

Info:

Matsubokkuri Lock Seed – Loosely translated to, "Pinecone Lock Seed."

The Cost of Victory

Silence reigned, and the click of the door behind him echoed jarringly loud. There had been a time when there was never a moment of silence in this place; when laughter could be heard, when loud voices rang above the buzz of the television, when footsteps sounded as the members of Team Baron went about their day – training and planning, testing out their latest moves and practicing their routines, or just plain hanging out and lazing around.

Now, though, there was only him, Kumon Kaito.

_He could still remember the looks of utter betrayal on Zack and Peco's faces as he dismissed them; the rest of the team had gotten off lightly, but for the two he considered to be his most trusted, his words had been harsh and his tone hard – he had had to be tough on them, especially them, because he couldn't drag them into this battle, this war. _

_'I don't need people who can't fight, and right now, you're useless to me.'_

And, there was only Jounouchi Hideyasu.

_The leader of Team Invitto – or former leader, as Kaito soon discovered, Jounouchi too had disbanded his own team – had turned up at his doorstep, his usual smirk in place, but his eyes colder – sharper and darker – than Kaito had ever seen them. There was no explanation as to where he had been, where he had come from or even why he was here; he looked neither threatening nor particularly eager. But, he was clearly here, at Kaito's doorstep, with a purpose. _

_'I would like to offer you a deal.'_

So, here they were – the two of them - no longer leaders of Beat Rider Teams, no longer young adults with naïve dreams and illusions about their futures.

After all, who would spend the time and energy to think of the future when they didn't even know if they were going to live past tomorrow?

'I got lunch.'

Even though the other man was not in the room, Kaito knew that he didn't need to raise his voice to be heard, and sure enough, just as he was unpacking his own lunch – plain bread and a thin slice of ham; even the simplest of fares were a luxury now with the state that Zawame City was in – Jounouchi appeared. 'I see you dropped by Keiko's,' said the bespectacled man, gesturing at a bag filled with a bunch of bananas, a couple of apples and a whole watermelon.

'She stopped me on the way back,' Kaito replied, handing him his lunch – which was also plain bread, though Jounouchi's had tomatoes as well as a slice of ham – and nodding his head in thanks as Jounouchi handed him a glass of water in exchange, 'She's leaving town tonight; her family was worried about her and demanded she join them. Wanted to give us something that would help us tomorrow. She sends her love.' At the last sentence, Kaito rolled his eyes; he could never understand why the girls were absolutely infatuated with Jounouchi. Even Team Invitto had been more like a harem than an actual dance team.

'Now, now, no need to be jealous,' Jounouchi needled playfully, though, Kaito noted, the light-heartedness never reached his eyes, but that was hardly a surprise; only once in the time they had spent together had Kaito ever seen any genuine emotion touch the other man, a far cry from the dramatic leader Kaito could remember, who punctuated everything he said and did with a certain flair. 'That girl,' Jounouchi continued, 'what was her name again? Yun-Yun, was it? – did try to hug you when she was leaving. Poor dear bawled her eyes out.'

Kaito glared at his partner, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing the effect of his words, even as he suppressed a shudder. That girl had clung to him, like one would a teddy bear, and cried – tears and makeup – all over him. Kaito, however, sobered up as Jounouchi lowered his eyes to stare unblinkingly at the bag of fruits.

'So, Keiko-chan's finally left, huh?' The bespectacled man's voice was soft and there was no mistaking the grave undercurrent that doused the light-hearted mood.

'Ah.'

Yamamoto Keiko, the eldest daughter of the local grocer, was one of the last few actual civilians still in the city; everyone had left during the large-scale evacuation that had been organized as Helheim Forest swallowed up Zawame City. Now, beyond the four walls inside which they sat, there was only a growing forest, herds of Inves and Rider Troops that each faction had managed to gather. Kaito, himself, had his own ragtag army camped right outside, and the him of old would've been extremely pleased with the power he had gained; he had, after all, become extremely strong and powerful.

The him of now, however, only wanted to be the leader of Team Baron again.

For a moment, Kaito felt a wave of longing, a bone-deep yearning for the time when they were still dancing and playing Inves Games. Sure, they had been vicious and they had hurt each other deeply – because they had been children playing childish games, and in their ignorance, they could be cruel – but they had been a close-knitted community – no non-Beat Rider would ever understand what it was like to be one of them; they were all rivals, enemies, but they also understood each other in a world that didn't understand them; they had accepted each other, acknowledged each other in a world that had tried to extinguish all they believed in. In the span of a few months – had it only been a few months? Kaito felt like he had aged a decade – everything had spiraled out of control – it used to be a game, but now, it was _real_ – and it was a dire state of affairs indeed if he and Jounouchi, of all people, were the only ones left to play hero.

Because, in the end, he had lost – they had lost – and Gaim had been appointed as the Chosen One. But, what none of them knew was that that was only the beginning. The Chosen One ended up becoming a vessel for the Will of the Helheim Forest, and Kouta's original personality had died with a darker version of the Rider taking his place. Not even Yggdrasill had stood a chance, and somewhere out there, Kaito knew that Zangetsu and Ryuugen were waiting and biding their time.

As for the others…

_'I'm sorry.' _

_It was her face; her voice. _

_'She couldn't escape her fate.'_

_But, it wasn't her. _

_'The Takatsukasa Mai you know is gone.'_

There was a splash of something cool against his hand as Jounouchi raised his eyebrow at him. Forcing himself to calm down and breathe, Kaito carefully set down the glass he held in his hand. He could still see in his mind's eye, the desperation in her eyes, the terror in her voice – not for herself, but for her Micchy, for her Kouta-san, for _Kaito_ – as she pleaded for him to stop what he was doing and turn back. His single-minded bid for power would ruin them all, she had warned, but he hadn't listened; he hadn't listened.

He had made his choice; he had paid the price.

He had lost everything.

He had lost_ her_.

But, he wasn't the only one.

And, that was the real reason why he had taken Jounouchi up on his offer; something had told him that they were one and the same.

Taking a bite out of his sandwich, arranging the wrapper so that it obscured a part of his face, Kaito eyed his companion discreetly, watching as Jounouchi picked at his own sandwich, his expression unreadable.

_The last time Kaito had seen Jounouchi's mask crack was during the first few days of their new partnership and he had offered Jounouchi his pick of a new Lock Seed. Kaito had completely forgotten all about the Matsubokkuri Lock Seed that he had tossed in the case – and it was definitely _his_ Lock Seed because it was the only Lock Seed in Kaito's collection that was a Class C; every other one he had given away to the troops, keeping only the most powerful for himself – and the look on Jounouchi's face when he had seen the Lock Seed was one of raw grief and devastation; the look of someone haunted by a sin he would never forgive himself for._

_Something had definitely had to have happened between them since the time Team Baron had taken over Team Raid Wild's stage, the time Hase had eaten the fruit and transformed into an Inves. _

_The time Kaito had seen human-turned-monster, in the guise of the Rider called Sigurd, standing over Bravo's broken body._

_The time Sigurd had mercilessly launched a barrage of attacks against Gridon until Gridon's transformation had shattered, and he had stood there, bow in hand, poised to kill, only to walk away, leaving behind a barely alive, but stunned, Jounouchi. _

_Something had definitely had to have happened between then and now because this wasn't the expression of the man who had so carelessly thrown away Hase's friendship for the sake of his ambition, the expression of the Jounouchi Hideyasu who had heartlessly trampled on Hase's trust. _

_Then, the fleeting show of emotion had vanished as the former Invitto leader brushed it off with a shaky laugh and claimed another Lock Seed, but Kaito had handed it over to him along with the one he had chosen, never saying a word about the way Jounouchi had cupped the Matsubokkuri Lock Seed in the palm of his hands, cradling it, his spectacles hiding his expression as he turned away. _

_After all, Kaito was more than familiar with the agony of a choice that couldn't be unmade._

_And a price that you realized too late was a price too high to pay._

Kaito was pulled abruptly from his thoughts by the harsh scraping of the chair against the floor as Jounouchi stood up and tossed his wrapper into the rubbish bin. 'You done with that?' he asked, collecting the glasses to be washed at Kaito's nod.

'Jounouchi.'

The said man stopped in his tracks, humming his acknowledgment, though he did not turn around. Kaito's brow creased in annoyance as he resisted the urge to stand up and force the other Rider to turn and look at him.

'Our deal was that you would ride out with me in battle.'

At that, Jounouchi did turn to face Kaito, and though his expression remained bland, his tone was clearly sarcastic as he shot back, 'Are you so afraid of me backstabbing you again that you feel the need to confirm the details of our deal?'

It probably said something about the both of them – or the state of the world that they were in – when they looked back on that particular memory with fond nostalgia.

Re-directing his thoughts back to the matter at hand, Kaito cleared his throat.

'As I was saying, our deal was that you would ride out with me in battle. Once we are out there, our deal is over; you only have to ride with me until the trumpet is sounded. Then, you can do as you please.'

_Kaito had asked Jounouchi once before, during a lull when the both of them were exhausted and the words had slipped out before Kaito could stop himself: why was Jounouchi still fighting? Kaito had his reasons, but Jounouchi hadn't seemed like the type to get himself involved, especially after what had happened to the patissier and Hase. _

_After all, he had nothing to gain and everything to lose._

_'When I want something,' Jounouchi had replied, after a heartbeat, 'I will do anything to get it; no matter the cost.'_

_The way his fist tightened on the Matsubokkuri Lock Seed said it all._

There was silence as Jounouchi digested Kaito's words, the real meaning behind them dawning on him as he stared unblinkingly at the former Team Baron leader.

Then, he smiled; cracked and broken, an expression that barely touched the corners of his lips, but for the first time in a long, long time, it was genuine.

It was _real_.

'For what it's worth,' said Jounouchi, 'it _really_ was nice working with you.' He held out his hand and Kaito took it, shaking it firmly; after this, there would no longer be time for talk until the war was over and their battles had been won.

And, there would no longer be time to talk, ever again, if victory wasn't theirs.

Kaito sat back down at the table as Jounouchi left the room. Unconsciously, his hand retrieved his deck of cards from his pocket, and he began to shuffle it.

'Oh, and Kaito,' the former Invitto leader popped his head back in, as Kaito started laying out the cards on the table, 'remember, this isn't your war to win.'

_Don't forget what you are really fighting for._

Kaito's eyes landed on the cards that he had pulled from the deck.

Ten of Diamonds. Jack of Diamonds. Queen of Diamonds. King of Diamonds. Ace of Diamonds.

_Gaim._

_And, her. _

_Takatsukasa Mai._

The cards said it all really.

Kaito would not – would never – lose sight of his goal; he knew what he wanted.

_They weren't riding out to win a war; they were riding out to reclaim what they had lost._

And, like Jounouchi, he was going to do anything to get it.

_And, this time, they would not regret the choices they made; the price they had to pay._

No matter the cost.


End file.
